US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken confirmed, during a conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, that Washington is ready to cooperate with Moscow in the field of nuclear arms control.
Blinken indicated that the United States will always be open to working with Russia on nuclear arms control.
He said, “I told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that no matter what happens in the world or between us, the United States will always be ready to cooperate in the field of strategic nuclear arms reduction, in the same way that the United States and the Soviet Union did, even at the height of the Cold War.” .
The US Secretary of State confirmed that he had informed Lavrov of the need for Russia to return to implementing the START treaty.
And Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that Blinken asked, during the G20 meeting in New Delhi, to contact Minister Lavrov, and they spoke briefly.
She said, “Blinken asked to contact Lavrov. Sergey Viktorovich (Lavrov) spoke for a short time with him within the framework of the G-20 summit. There were no negotiations, no meetings, and so on.”
The Associated Press, quoting US sources, reported that the conversation lasted about 10 minutes.
The New York Times indicated that Blinken’s talks with his Russian counterpart, and their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in India, are “the first step of its kind since the start of military operations in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.”
According to the newspaper, Blinken and Lavrov met amid the decline in relations between Washington and Moscow to the lowest level in decades.
The newspaper said that Blinken clarified three prominent matters to the Russian Foreign Minister; The first is that Washington will move forward in providing military support to Ukraine, no matter what it takes, and the second, Blinken stressed to Lavrov, the need for Russia to return to the “New START” nuclear treaty, from which President Vladimir Putin announced his withdrawal recently. As for the third point, it is necessary for the Russian authorities to release the American citizen, Paul Whelan, who is accused of espionage.
RussiaUnited States of AmericaWashingtonSergey Lavrov